Conventionally, a card connector to connect an IC card which includes an IC chip composed of a memory, a CPU, or the like to an external circuit such as a printed circuit board or the like is provided.
According to Japanese Patent No. 2860362, a card connector, which comprises a body contiguously supporting an IC card and a cover rotatably attached to the body, is proposed.
As for this card connector, since the cover is rotatably attached to the body, the cover should be handled together with the body for mounting this connector on a printed circuit board or the like. Thus, it is difficult to mount this connector automatically on the printed circuit board or the like. Furthermore, as for this connector, the connection of the card and the connector is retained with directly contacting an end face of the card to an engagement face of the body. However, such a constitution cannot retain the connection between the card and the connector firmly. Therefore, it is necessary to provide a locking mechanism additionally to retain the connection for the purpose of ensuring the connection between the connector and the card certainly, thereby causing the complexity of the construction of the connector and upsizing the size of the connector.
On the contrary, according to Japanese Patent No. 3020020, a card connector comprising a body shaped in form of a flat rectangular plate, wherein six connecting terminals are mounted on its surface, and a cover which has a card receiving portion on its rear face and also doubles as a holder of a card which is slidably attached along the surface portion of the body is proposed.
As for this connector, the above mentioned problem with regard to the automatic attachment to the printed circuit board or the like is solved by means of a constituting that the body is separated from the cover when attaching the card. However, a de-installation of a component when attaching the connector causes a loss of the de-installed component. Furthermore, even this connector does not solve the problem of the complexity of the construction and the upsizing of the connector.